1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the lamination of a pile carpet section to a curable elastomeric backing section by compressive molding. The lamination method is particularly applicable to the manufacture of automobile floor mats.
2. Description of Prior Art
Automobile floor mats have been manufactured by molding a pile carpet layer to a curable elastomeric backing in a two part mold while heating both mold sections to provide the necessary heat to cure the elastomeric backing. In that process the carpet pile became substantially deformed and had to be revived with compressed air to achieve a carpet pile which was commercially acceptable. However, it was discovered that some carpet piles, such as certain nylon-tufted, cut pile carpets, could not be sufficiently revived to achieve a commercially acceptable appearance.
Methods have been utilized to prevent crushing of a pile carpet during various lamination methods. Callahan (U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,824) passes a web of a thermoplastic-backed, tufted carpet under tension about a heated roller to provide pressure on the back face of the carpet to cause the thermoplastic layer to flow about the connecting loops of the pile. Cotterman (U.S. Pat. No. 2,296,502) provides rigid carding pins to prevent crushing of the carpet pile when a vulcanizable backing is molded to the carpet under the force of heated fluid. A shallow mold plate is used in Hankins (U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,564) to prevent compression of the carpet pile during molding. Squier (U.S. Pat. No. 3,673,034) utilizes an extensible blanket to protect the carpet pile during forming.
A thermoplastic material is coated onto the back of a continuous web of carpet in Penman (U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,024) by spreading a layer of thermoplastic powder on the carpet backing and passing the thermoplastic powder under heaters. The surface of the carpet pile is continuously passed over a cooled platen to keep the pile and backing cool in order to prevent the heat applied to the backing from injuring the pile or backing and to prevent any color change in the pile.
Di Gioia (U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,318) discloses a moldable tufted automobile carpet mat having a moldable thermoplastic urethane resin layer and a flexible thermoset urethane resin backing layer. The mat can be heated to a temperature of about 150.degree. to 200.degree. F. to render the thermoplastic resin layer heat moldable by cold molding the mat under pressure.
Copies of the foregoing patents were appended to the original application papers.